Dangerous Liaisons? State-Chaebol Co-operation and the Global Privatisation of Development

This article analyses the relationships between private and public sectors in shaping the South Korean development assistance agenda. Since 2008, subsequent Korean administrations have made development assistance a keystone of their foreign policy. Fast growing middle-income countries seem to be favourite development partners for these administrations and the parallel increase in the overseas expansion of Korean chaebol in these developing partner markets suggests that interactions between private economic interests and development assistance exigencies have been numerous. Based upon fieldwork on Korean development assistance, this article shows that Korean conglomerates are both informally and structurally included in decision-making processes as a result of the specific governance architecture inherited from the developmental state era. But recently, since its accession to the Development Assistance Committee in 2010, Korea has also been institutionalising private actors’ inclusion in official development assistance delivery mechanisms. This should be understood as part of a global agenda that has increasingly privatised development formulation and delivery. The inclusion of chaebol in official development assistance through institutional mechanisms might actually be more aligned with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development norms than the existing literature suggests.     

Chaebol and the Turn to Services: The Rise of a Korean Service Economy and the Dynamics of Self-Employment and Wage Work

ABSTRACT

This article examines the growing insecurity for the Korean self-employed who were once responsible for a large proportion of domestic service operations. Since the 1980s, changing regional and domestic economic circumstances, the restructuring of regional and chaebol manufacturing operations and liberalisation of the domestic service economy had led to enterprise diversification into the distributive sectors and the systematisation of the domestic service economy. Conducting a historical analysis of service sector development and decomposing the Korean Economically Active Population survey (1989–2011), this article charts the process of Korea’s distributive sector development and its effect on the self-employed. It argues that chaebol systematisation of Korea’s service sector consolidated the domestic economy after 1997 and exerted pressure on the country’s self-employed. Large businesses formalised the service sector, displaced the self-employed, and instead generated mostly non-regular wage work, proletarianising a significant segment of the service workforce.     

Democratization, dispersed interest groups, and economic reform in South Korea: Understanding the decline of the “Chaebol Republic”

The 1997 financial crisis exposed serious weaknesses in South Korea's economy, with its heavy reliance on large conglomerates (chaebol). During the late authoritarian period, the chaebol arose through state guidance and subsidies, becoming the central players in South Korea's export-led growth boom. The early democratic period saw limited efforts toward economic liberalization. But these measures reduced state oversight while actually expanding the privileged access to credit enjoyed by the chaebol. The resulting investment distortions and financial weaknesses were the most important root causes of the 1997 crisis. The 1997 presidential election brought the outsider Kim Dae-jung to power. Kim launched an unprecedented assault on the credit privileges and corporate governance structures of the chaebol. However, the reforms have been compromised by measures to prevent a large transitional recession. It is argued that the overall pattern of ambitious but compromised reform is explained by two main considerations. First, Kim did not want to alienate “dispersed interest groups” (the urban service sector and agriculture). These want to conserve the favorable elements of South Korea's economic model while purging the dross. And at the same time, Kim wanted to focus transitional restructuring costs on the most hostile “concentrated interest group” constituencies (the chaebol and government sectors) of the opposition Grand National Party. I thank Uk Heo and Sunwoong Kim for their helpful suggestions and insights.     

汉字文化圈的同源标记现象与“脱语化”——以中韩、韩中口译过程为例

汉字作为中国文化的特殊载体,是汉字文化圈共同的文字基础,在日本、韩国、越南的语言中,至今仍保留着大量的汉语词汇.本文以韩国语为例,讨论汉字词在中韩、韩中翻译过程中所扮演的角色,提出"同源标记"的概念,对同源标记现象进行分类,并列举了在中韩、韩中口译过程中由同源标记所引起的误译的情况,提出能够正确认识口译中同源标记问题的好方法--"脱语化".     

中韩仪式剧比较研究

本文以中国的＂还坛神＂和韩国的＂东海岸别神祭＂为主要研究对象,对中韩两国仪式剧进行比较,寻求其普遍性和特殊性。从演出形态来看,中韩仪式剧主要集中在仪式的娱神酬神阶段演出,其基本形态是祭夹戏;但中国仪式剧较多的是以戏代祭,韩国仪式剧一般是先祭后戏。从艺术品格来看,二者具有拙朴、风趣、即兴的艺术品格,均包含了一些游戏的特质。但中国仪式剧较多的具备戏曲萌芽的特征,韩国仪式剧较多的具备原始演剧的特征。     

The Politics of Chaebol Reform in Korea: Social Cleavage and New Financial Rules

Korea's developmental state had long maintained the principle of “separation between industrial capital and financial capital,” whereby the nation's industrial conglomerates – the chaebol – were restricted from having controlling ownership of financial institutions, especially banks. The financial crisis of 1997-98 renewed calls for regulating the chaebol, especially in terms of reinforcing corporate governance and competition policy. This process was supported and promoted by vibrant non-governmental organisations led by progressive activists who forged an effective alliance with the government and the ruling party whose platform followed a populist course. The reform movement has been resisted with equal fervour by conservative elements, led by the opposition party, chaebol-supported think tanks, and the conservative media. This cleavage is evident in the case of a pending legislation on chaebol ownership of financial institutions, the Financial Industry Structure Law. The controversy over this proposed law demonstrates that the contemporary chaebol reforms are deeply politicised. It also illustrates the path-dependent nature of the government-chaebol relationship.     

The Political Rationale of Administrative Reforms: Parliamentary Support of Output Control in Switzerland

Sufficient political support is a sine qua non of comprehensive administrative reforms. However, while the pros and cons of administrative reform measures have been extensively discussed in theory and research, only little is known about the political process which determines whether or not administrative reforms are implemented at all. Against this background, the article aims at throwing light on the politicians' backgrounds and mindsets which account for their attitude towards administrative reforms. Referring to the theories of voting behaviour, socio-structural, socio-psychological, and rational choice factors by Swiss members of parliament are tested for their impact on the attitude towards new output control policies as part of wider administrative reforms. Findings help us understand the different fates of administrative reforms in the legislative process, and they make it possible to draw some essential conclusions for the design and implementation of future administrative reforms. In consequence of this, the article's findings are a significant contribution for the study of the political rationale of administrative reforms as well as the characteristics of political rationale in general.     

Reforming Local Government in Germany: Institutional Changes and Performance Impacts

The article analyses trajectories and impacts of local government reforms in Germany. It scrutinises four major approaches of reform that have affected the local authorities since the beginning of the 1990s: decentralisation, privatisation, administrative reforms (‘New Steering Model’) and the direct election of mayors. The objective of the article is to encompass the multifaceted elements and effects of local government reform in Germany. Firstly, the author examines the institutional changes that have occurred in the local councils. Secondly, the broader effects and impacts of the institutional transformations are dealt with, analysing how the latter has enhanced performance, steering capacity and political accountability. Finally, the author evaluates the extent to which the reforms have put their mark on the inherited and historic tradition of the German local government system.     

Criminal Violence and Democratization in Central America: The Survival of the Violent State

Why does Nicaragua have less violent crime than Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras? All these countries underwent political transitions in the 1990s. Many explanations point to the legacies of war, socioeconomic underdevelopment, and neoliberal structural reforms. However, these arguments do not fully explain why, despite economic reforms conducted throughout the region, war‐less Honduras and wealthier Guatemala and El Salvador have much more crime than Nicaragua. This article argues that public security reforms carried out during the political transitions shaped the ability of the new regimes to control the violence produced by their own institutions and collaborators. In the analysis of the crisis of public security, it is important to bring the state back. The survival of violent entrepreneurs in the new security apparatus and their relationship with new governing elites foster the conditions for the escalation of violence in northern Central America.     

构建“中国学派”的观念困境:基于比较视野的分析

构建"中国学派"的国际关系理论是一个歧见丛生、远未成型、前景未卜的话题。即便如此,对于其已经表现出来的具有较大影响的观念基础进行反思并不为时过早。通过从两个角度对"中国学派"背后所体现的观念进行比较,可以发现,"中国学派"面临的观念困境在于:如果我们批判西方作为深层差异之外在表现成果的国际关系理论,是否会株连到该内核的其他优势方面?在主张中国观念价值的同时,如何避免其潜在的弊端与危害?在中国社会改革持续深入的背景下,只有在社会改革的进程中实现了文化、文明和思想层面的崛起及民族精神革新之后,才能为国际关系理论的"中国学派"提供思想的活水源头。换言之,对理论的建构者而言,与其循着西方国际关系理论的弊端而思考建构理论,不如立足于思考中国民众所面临的问题——关于如何塑造强大的积极的个体、如何保持民族持续的发展和进步,进而思考我们理想的世界是什么样的。这些问题虽然看起来与国际关系理论相去稍远,但却能够保证理论应用的品质及其价值维度。     

The China model of Korean reunification

Like Germany's reunification, essentially the annexation of East Germany by West Germany, Korean reunification looms as most likely, ultimately and largely entailing South Korea's annexation of North Korea. The awesome cost borne by West Germany for reunification has been instructive to South Korea, particularly in recognition that the material and ideological gaps between North and South Korea are far greater than those which existed between East and West Germany. A possible solution to the negative implications of cataclysmic reunificationmay rest in gradual reunification of the Koreas, with an interim industrialization of North Korea by South Korea, based on the model of the economic development zones in southeastern China; hence, the “China Model”. In such a scenario the investors in North Korea's gradual industrialization would be (primarily) the huge conglomerate South Korean corporations chaebol which seek cheaper labor pools abroad. Investment by such corporations, in cooperation with the South Korean government, and possibly supplemented by western and Japanese capital investment, would presumably raise levels of productivity and the standard of living in the economically and agriculturally ravished North. The North-South gaps would thus be gradually reduced as would the financial and other burdens South Korea would otherwise have to bear for cataclysmic reunification.     

Development, Education and the Teachers Union Movement in South Korea, 1989-1999

The passing of legislation in July 1999 to legalise Chunkyojo , the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union signalled the culmination of ten-year struggle by teachers to form a representative organisation that could represent them in industrial matters and push forward their agenda for educational reforms in South Korean schools. However the gains, as this article points out, were substantially less than the original goals of the movement. These goals, as this article discusses, were founded on grievances of the movement located in complex facets of South Korean education at its intersection with history, politics and development. The article examines some of the core grievances of the movement emanating from issues of teachers' identities, the role of education in national development, the dominance of the examination system and the industrial relations contexts of school teachers. The analysis confirms that the systemic features which the teachers union movement challenged reside in the social and historical foundations and political constructions of school education in South Korea and indicates that the recent developments are not likely to address these but, instead, signal the emergence of a new phase of conflict between reform-minded teachers and the South Korean government.     

Globalization's impact on the Malaysian workforce

This article provides a partial analysis of the socio-political impact of the so-called IMF reforms that were implemented by the South Korean government in response to the financial crisis of 1997–98. We find that at least in one key area — namely policies related to foreign investment — the IMF reforms fundamentally altered and reshaped Korea's development path. In fact, the policy changes affecting foreign investment produced what amounts to a paradigm shift in Korea's well-known model of developmental state. Alternatively put, these reforms led to the demise of the “Korea, Inc.,” the symbiotic relationship between government and businesses that was at the core of Korea's developmental state. As such, our analysis suggesting a paradigm shift in Korea's developmental state stands in contrast with previous (pre-crisis) arguments that proclaimed the demise of the developmental state.     

韩国文学汉译的“赞助者”研究

在当下的翻译研究中,翻译活动中的“赞助者”研究日益受到重视。而韩国文学汉译领域中的相关研究还处在萌芽的阶段。韩国文学作品在中国翻译、出版,韩国文学翻译院起到了巨大的推动作用。本文对其2001年成立至今资助翻译、资助出版中文译著的情况进行梳理,力图揭示其对韩国文学在中国翻译、传播中起到的作用、影响以及不足之处。     

Beijing’s defense strategy and the Korean peninsula

The Korean peninsula has been one of the key regions for China’s security. With a strong interest in maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, Beijing is readjusting its foreign policy toward two Koreas in the post-cold war era. This article examines the recent changes in Beijing’s defense strategy and their implications for the Korean peninsula. It is argued that although China’s immediate military concerns are moving south, the Korean peninsula still occupies an important place in Beijing’s defense planning. Beijing’s recent weapon acquisitions from Russia have little direct impact on the Korean peninsula, but the Chinese defense modernization will have a long-term impact on the major power military balance in Northeast Asia.     

新疆利用韩国企业直接投资的现状与展望

随着韩国企业在中国东部沿海发达地区的布局趋于完善和成熟以及中国西部大开发战略的逐步深入,全球经济格局调整和产业转移,大规模进入新疆等中国西部地区已成为必然。但目前韩国企业在新疆直接投资的整体规模上一直徘徊不前,相较东西部其他地区的投资额也有明显差距。因此,为了释放新疆与韩国的经济合作潜力,建议通过加强文化交流促进经济合作和改善投资环境加强直接投资的吸引力;通过吸引更多韩国跨国公司,扩大投资规模。     

韩国道教的起源——韩国道教的自创论和外来传入论的比较研究

道教不但是中国传统思想文化的基础和主流,也是东亚传统思想文化的基础之一。亚洲国家中除了中国以外,受道教影响最大的要数韩国和日本。在韩国,对于道教的研究并不十分火热。所幸这几年随着韩国研究道家的学者越来越多,更多的研究成果被公之于世。我们为了更好地理解韩国的道教,应该从韩国道教的起源开始,并且不局限于韩国学者的研究成果,更要走向国际,特别是与中国学者共同努力研究韩国的道教。     

Culture,self, and“URI”: Anti-Americanism in contemporary South Korea

As a much debated phenomenon in contemporary South Korea, anti-Americanism has been seen primarily as a response to the perceived political and economic domination of the United States in Korean affairs. This article suggests that such a view, however, is incomplete without consideration of the cultural and psychological context in which contemporary discourses of cultural nationalism have arisen: specifically, an indigenous cultural psychology characterized by an emphasis onuri (“we”)—a collective sense of socially diffuse yet unified and homogenous selfhood. As one variety of contemporary national cultural discourse, anti-Americanism is a response to certain to certain unwelcome trends in cultural development that have already begun to undermine the collective sense of Korean selfhood, as reflected in part in Korean concern over the Western “cultural invasion,” and Korean critiques of American bias and arrogance in dealings with Korea. However, far from being a static concept concerned only with defensive protection of Korean identity,uri also reflects Korean concern for re-formulating national cultural identity in terms more accommodating to the outside. Ultimately, anti-Americanism needs to be seen in the context of a Korean cultural psychology, which posits the enduring value of a collectively defined selfhood as an alternative to the prevailing individualist representations of the West. Diane M. Hoffman is an anthropologist and independent scholar with research interests in contemporary Korean culture and Korean-American intercultural relations.     

Effects of Institutional Reforms on Women's Representation in Colombia, 1960–2014

Starting in the 1990s, reforms aimed at addressing the underrepresentation of women have been implemented in Colombia. However, research on the consequences of these reforms has been inconclusive. This article analyzes the influence of institutional variables on the proportion of nominated and elected women in Colombia between 1962 and 2014, at both the national and local levels of government, in three different institutional environments. Results confirm the influence of institutional change, indicating that decentralizing reforms and the introduction of the gender quota have had a positive impact on the proportion of women's candidacies and elections, but that the adoption of the open list negatively affected the percentage of elected women.     

The Rescaling of the Chinese State and Sino-North Korean Relations: Beyond State-Centrism

While Beijing has repeatedly signed up to multilateral sanctions against North Korea, it is widely regarded as having failed to enforce them. Indeed, China’s deepening economic engagement with the country has led observers to debate the causes of this seemingly duplicitous approach. Constructivist and realist approaches have relied on state-centric frameworks that serve to reduce Sino-North Korean relations to the high politics of Beijing-Pyongyang diplomacy in the context of broader geopolitical dynamics. This article argues that such approaches pay insufficient attention to the profound rescaling of the Chinese state in recent years and the implications this process has for bilateral relations. This article sheds light on how Sino-North Korean relations are being driven by actors at multiple scales and by a multitude of objectives as a result of decentralisation and marketisation alongside increasing geographical unevenness within China and new challenges to continued capital accumulation. North Korea has come to play an increasingly important role in efforts to facilitate economic recovery in the northeastern border regions through serving as spatial fix for Chinese manufacturing capital. These new cross-border flows of capital and labour suggest an emerging pattern of Sino-North Korean relations that is by no means static but in considerable flux.